Sept. 15 – DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano – Soliman formally turned over some 30 shelter units to Typhoon Frank victims of year 2008, in Barangay Sebastian of Matag-ob, Leyte and was impressed by the developments of one of Region Eight’s 911 core shelter units spread out in the six provinces of Eastern Visayas.

The visiting top official stated in her speech that one factor contributory to the success of this project is the cohesiveness of the people in the community, and support of the local government units, down to the barangay level.

Aside from DSWD’s assistance of the Php 70,000.00 – worth structural unit per recipient (or a total of P2.1 M), various local government units extended support such that each shelter unit will not just be a skeletal one. The province of Leyte donated Php300,000.00, with every beneficiary receiving Php10,000.00 each; municipal government of Matag-ob, Php450,000.00 or Php15,000.00 per beneficiary; and the barangay, through a private citizen, Romilla Omega – Colejar, provided a 6,317 – square meter lot.

On the other hand, the Leyte provincial government also gave some 20 sacks rice, ten boxes sardines, and five boxes noodles for the food-for-work scheme; in other words, while the beneficiaries help each other in the construction of the units, they were provided food assistance.

Secretary Soliman emphasized that the essence of the program is not only in the provision of typhoon-resistant homes that can withstand up to 220 kilometers per hour of wind velocity, but to promote self-reliance among the beneficiaries and the community.

These beneficiaries were organized into the so – called Neighborhood Association for Shelter Assistance (NASA) for the purpose of promoting collective action in realizing the goals of the project, and to develop and uphold the values of self-reliance among beneficiaries and the community. The Project aims to draw commitment from the beneficiaries and the whole neighborhood to make the shelter unit livable, and maintain structurally strong housing standards.

Most of all, “the association is expected to address the vulnerabilities of the community, while empowering beneficiaries to make the core shelter livable and more sustainable.”